I'm curious why so many powder coat the panels - is it just a cosmetic thing? On cars I've built in the past, I've left the aluminum raw, and although it got some patina, it never looked bad or corroded horribly. I put 60,000 miles on one car and never had a problem with the raw panels. But here nowadays I see a lot of coatings, so I'm curious.

I haven't ordered yet, nor seen any FF in the flesh, so I wonder if the panel material is thinner than I used before. Does anyone know what gauge and grade it is?

Thanks